The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has joined hands with other ministries and sectors to promote the export of agri-aquatic products to Australia.

According to the Ministry’s Import-Export Department, Australia is among the largest buyers of farm and aquatic products of Vietnam, making an annual average import value of 450 million USD in 2011 – 2016.

The MoIT has actively worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to address technical barriers to bring shrimps and fresh fruits to Australia.

After a long time of negotiations, Vietnam’s lychees and mangoes were first shipped to Australia in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The MoIT and the MARD have been working hard for the export of other fresh fruits, such as dragon fruits, longan, star apple and rambutan to the market.

They have made tireless efforts to win Australia’s acceptance of Vietnam’s applications for importing raw shrimps that are caught naturally in Australia for processing, and then re-exported to Australia.

The two ministries are working together in urging the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to accelerate the recognition of Vietnam’s shrimp safety from white sport disease and the quality safety control system to allow Vietnam to ship its fresh whole shrimps to the market as soon as possible.

They have also provided support for the Vietnam – Australia Group and Minh Phu Company to soon sell their high-quality shrimp products to the Australian market.

According to Vietnam’s Trade Office in Australia, Australia is the 7th largest import market of Vietnamese shrimps, which consumes 3.6 percent of the country’s total shrimp export volume.

In 2016, Vietnam earned 114.6 million USD from shipping shrimps to Australia, 78 percent of which was processed shrimps.

In the past five years, Vietnam has been the largest supplier of processed shrimps for Australia. Despite the market’s strict requirements, it is considered a promising market for Vietnamese firms due to high and increasing demand. Meanwhile, Australia tends to narrow down its import markets and focus on only major ones, which is also an advantage for Vietnam.